RBS put aside £3.6bn to deal with their own mess

RBS were hoping to start getting back on an even keel this year, but instead, have announced £3.6bn of provisions, to sort out a host of other problems they've caused themselves - notably, pension deficit charges, fines for bad conduct, and a goodwill writedown.

All this has ensured that RBS' shares have dropped by over 5%, which is the lowest they've been since 2012.

£1.5bn has been put aside to cover the fines from the US Federal Housing Finance Agency, over more mis-selling, which will be added to a previous pot, making the provision for this particular problem a whopping £3.8bn.

They've also had to keep a further £500m aside for the mis-selling of PPI in the UK, which means that the banking group will be making a loss in 2016.

Thanks to a deadline being set-up to finally get the whole PPI mess sorted out, a number of banks are having to earmark money to cover penalties, such as Santander who also said that they're going to set aside an extra £450m for expected extra claims.

“We will now continue to move further and faster in 2016 to clean up the bank and improve our core businesses”, said Ross McEwan, gaffer at Royal Bank of Scotland. "We've always been open about the scale of past issues facing RBS, although there is clearly much more to do." You don't say!

He added: "At this stage we think it is hopefully the end, and it has been a long, torturous saga for many banks. It is a good lesson for the industry on dealing with customers fairly. I am determined to put the issues of the past behind us, and make sure RBS is a stronger, safer bank. We will now continue to move further and faster in 2016 to clean-up the bank and improve our core businesses."